U-boat Commands

Johann Jebsen joined the Kriegsmarine in 1935. Following standard training he served as 2WO (2nd Watch Officer) on the large type IX U-boat U-39 under Kptlt. Gerhard Glattes from Oct 1938 to July 1939. He then served as 1WO on the small type IIB U-boat "duck" U-20 (Kptlt. Karl-Heinz Moehle) until April 1940, for 11 patrols, spending 97 days at sea (Busch & Röll, 1999).

Jebsen went through a Baubelehrung (Construction Familiarisation) course for type IXC U-boats before joining U-123 with Kptlt. Moehle in May 1940 as 1WO (Busch & Röll, 1999). He went on 2 patrols with the boat, 48 days at sea, during which 11 ships were sunk totalling over 50,000 tons.

Jebsen received U-boat Commander training with the 24th (Training) Flotilla from
Jan. to March 1941 before Baubelehrung for the type VIIC U-boat. (Busch & Röll, 1999).

On 10 April 1941 Oblt. Jebsen took command of U-565 and left on the first patrol on 8 July 1941 from Trondheim, Norway. On the third patrol U-565 left Lorient, France to pass through the Straits of Gibraltar into the Mediterranean on 16 Nov. 1941, arriving at her new base at La Spezia, Italy on 25 Dec. (Busch & Röll, 1997). He left the boat after one more patrol, on 17 May 1942, with 176 days seatime. He sank one ship, the British light cruiser HMS Naiad (93), on 11 March 1942.

From April to Oct. 1942 he served with the 25th (Training) Flotilla, and then as a tactical instructor with Agru-Front (Active Service Training Group) Oct. 1942 - June 1943 (Busch & Röll, 1999).

He went on another Baubelehrung from June to July 1943, this time for the much larger type IXD2, before taking command of U-859 on 8 July 1943 (Busch & Röll, 1999).

After working up exercises in the the Baltic U-859 left Marviken, Norway for her first patrol on 8 April 1944, heading to the Indian Ocean (Busch & Röll, 1997). She sank three ships of almost 21,000 tons total before being sunk herself by a British submarine near Penang on 23 Sept, 169 days into the patrol. There were 20 survivors, but 47 men died, including Kptlt Jebsen (Niestlé, 1998).

About ranks and decorationsRanks shown in italics are our database inserts based on the rank dates of his crew comrades. The officers of each crew would normally have progressed through the lower ranks at the same rate.